Passing Through The Fire: The Secret Life of Reinette Poisson
by TimeLordPrime
Summary: This is the story of the hidden part of Reinette's life that you won't find in any history book. It tells about the adventures that Reinette along with her best friend Baroness Clara, an echo of Clara Oswald's, had as the first line of defense for the Earth of her time against alien invasion and every other kind of unnatural danger that threatened it. A spin-off of Clara Who.
1. An Unhappy Reunion

PASSING THROUGH THE FIRE: THE SECRET LIFE OF REINETTE POISSON

I do not own Doctor Who or Torchwood and I am making no profit off of this.

**This is an ongoing spin-off of my story, Clara Who, but you don't have to have read that story in order to understand this one.**

CHAPTER 1

AN UNHAPPY REUNION

Paris, France - Sometime in the mid-1700s

The Baroness Clara ran for her life as the metal man came closer and closer to her by the moment. Even running as fast as she could, which was quite fast as a result of her usual daily activities, she could barely outpace him which was surprising since he looked like he weighed at least three times as much as she did.

If she could only get to Jeanne, then she would know what to do. Jeanne always knew how to defeat nightmarish things like this.

Jeanne seemed to have knowledge that was far beyond that of even a learned member of the royal court. In fact, it was often whispered around Paris that Madame de Pompadour was somehow divinely inspired and that she was even close friends with angels.

Clara didn't believe any of that of course. She already knew the real truth. It was Reinette's mysterious Fireplace Man, the Doctor, who had given her this knowledge. She had met him herself when he and her mirror image, the Doctor's wife Clara Oswald, had come to save them from the monstrous statues that had been plaguing the royal court at Versailles and despite what Reinette might think of him she knew that he was no angel. She had no doubts whatsoever that he was definitely on the same side as them though.

As the huge metal man finally drew within arm's reach of her, Clara began to start developing the first true pangs of fear in her heart at last as she started to realize with dawning horror that she might never reach Jeanne in time to save herself. Up until now she had held onto an unshakeable faith in her friend saving her at the last moment just as she usually did against things like this. Now though she began to really start doubting that she would survive this time.

She was already starting to cry despite her best attempts not to even as she suddenly saw a golden arrow come flying past her face at incredible speed. Then she heard the metal man behind her scream immediately in pain and collapse to the ground with a massive thud. She stopped running and turned around to see that it was now lying there unmoving and seemingly lifeless.

"Good work, Captain LeFevre," Reinette said as she and a small army of Musketeers, one of which was holding a bow instead of a sword, finally arrived on the scene.

Clara frowned as she said, "You cut that one a little bit too close, Jeanne, and in more ways than one. That arrow almost hit me instead of the metal man."

"My apologies, My Lady," LeFevre, the musketeer with the bow, said apologetically as he bowed to her.

"You should be lucky that his aim was as good as it was, Clara. He struck the Cyberman straight in the chestplate with the golden arrow. Luckily this version of them still had a weakness to gold. Not all versions of them do according to the Doctor's memories," Reinette said.

Clara looked at her in disbelief as she said, "So you didn't even know if it would work or not?"

Reinette looked suitably chagrined as she said, "No, but I was fairly certain that it would."

"How certain?" Clara asked.

"Reasonably certain," Reinette said as she began to look uncomfortable.

"What did I ever do to deserve a friend like you, Jeanne Poisson?" Clara said with a sigh.

Reinette looked at her with guilt written all over her face as she said, "I'm sorry, Clara. It was the only way to destroy him though. We had to lure him out of hiding by using you as his potential victim. Otherwise he would have just kept attacking the local villagers and sooner or later he would have captured one of them and converted them into another one of his kind. Then things would have really become bad. Luckily we also found the Cyberman's ship and blew it up with gunpowder. I only hope that he wasn't able to contact others like him to come here and rescue him."

"How do you know all of this, Jeanne? I know that you were in the Doctor's mind but that was only for a brief time from what you said. How could you have learned so much so quickly?" Clara asked.

"It's hard to explain, Clara. What we shared was a lifetime's worth of memories. He learned all about my life and I learned all about his and about so many of the monsters that he fights. I'm so glad that I retained that knowledge because it has helped me to save many lives since then including yours as I remember," Reinette said.

"There you go again. Every time I say anything to you even the slightest bit derogatory, you pull out the "I saved your life from the man in the mysterious clothing who tried to kill you" card," Clara said with a frown.

Reinette smiled as she said, "That's because it always works, my dear sweet friend."

Then she suddenly turned serious as she said, "I'm sorry. If you never want to help me again against any future attacks by the Doctor's monsters I'll understand. I would never want anything to happen to you because of me. I love you just as if you were my own sister."

Clara smiled at her now and embraced her as she said, "If I hadn't wanted to do it, I wouldn't have, Jeanne. We're a team and no matter what happens to me we always will be. We're like a two woman version of the Musketeers. All for one and one for all! Actually I like Robin Hood better despite his being English, but I don't fancy being a Merry Man because you would obviously be Robin. At least as Musketeers we would both be equals."

Reinette smiled as she said, "I daresay that you would be the equal of even the best Musketeer. You're just as brave and every bit as courageous. Some would say that you're even more dangerous, but I won't name any names."

Clara smiled as she said, "No, I think I'll stick with fighting the monsters with you, Jeanne, instead of trying to become a Musketeer. That's where the real action is. How about to celebrate our victory over the metal man we both have one of my freshly made soufflés? I've made more than enough for both of us."

Reinette tried very hard not to frown as she tactfully said, "I'll save mine for later, Clara. I just ate a very hearty meal not too long ago."

The truth was that she absolutely hated Clara's soufflés, but she valued her friendship far too much to tell her that. Whenever Clara would give her one to eat, she would always tell her that she would eat it later and then save it to use against one of the many foes from beyond the stars that seemed to constantly plague France. They had come in handy on more than one occasion to stop even the most determined of enemies.

She remembered with a smile that she had used the last soufflé that Clara had made her to successfully kill something that the Doctor would have called a Weevil. As soon as it had eaten the vile thing, the Weevil had instantly dropped over dead. She shuddered to think what would have happened to her if she had eaten it instead.

"What's that smile about, Jeanne?" Clara asked curiously.

"Nothing. I was just thinking about that last adventure of ours. The one with the monster that ate people," Reinette said.

"Oh, yes. I hated that awful thing. I was sure that nothing would ever kill it. I never did find out how you finished it off. What did you give it anyway?" Clara asked.

"The vilest most toxic poison that I have ever come across," Reinette said truthfully.

"It must be. I've never seen any poison work that quickly," Clara agreed.

They were interrupted by LeFevre as he said to Reinette, "Marquise, we have just received reports of several strange deaths in one of the poorer parts of Paris."

"Do you think that maybe we didn't catch this Cyberman as you called him in time, Jeanne?" Clara asked with a sad look on her face.

"I'm not certain. It doesn't sound right to me though. If the Doctor were here, he would say that the Cyberman might have killed if he felt threatened, but he was alone so he would have more than likely wanted to create reinforcements for himself by converting others. Can you give me more details, Captain?" Reinette asked.

"These murders were so strange that I think that they could have easily been caused by another one of these monsters from beyond the stars of yours, Marquise. Each victim was found missing a vital piece of their anatomy. Some were missing eyes, some were missing internal organs, and some were missing several layers of skin and hair. It's a very gruesome affair," LeFevre said with distaste.

"What?" Reinette asked in a shaky voice as she started to have flashbacks to what the Doctor had told her about the clockwork men that had plagued her for her entire life and how they had taken human body parts for their ship.

LeFevre looked at her emotional display in surprise because Reinette was one of the bravest people that he knew. He had seen her face down monsters and men of all shapes and sizes who were all extremely deadly to one degree or another with no trace of fear whatsoever while he had fought by her side so it truly shocked him to see her actually afraid of something for once.

He had never seen her show anything but the utmost bravely ever since the king had given her special powers over his Musketeers so that she could call upon them to assist her at all times in her quest to rid France of the numerous monsters that plagued it. The king had become convinced of the need for this after the clockwork men had almost killed Reinette. Now a special unit of the Musketeers was always available to assist her no matter what the hour or the task. He thought that he would hate working for a woman at first, but she had quickly impressed him with her wit, strength, and bravery until he had set all of his reservations about her aside.

He would now gladly follow her into the deepest darkest pits of Hell without hesitation and from what he had seen as he fought by Reinette's side he wouldn't be half surprised if he actually did wind up there someday! He trusted that she would safely lead him and his men back out again even if they did go there though.

"Are you alright, Jeanne?" Clara asked in concern.

Reinette nodded as she quickly recovered her composure and said, "I think that the clockwork men may have returned."

"Oh, wonderful!" Clara said with a sigh.

"I remember them from the day that they tried to attack you, Marquise. I'll give the men a detailed description and tell them to be on the lookout for them," Captain Lefevre said.

"Thank you, Captain. Tell them to be extra careful and to use explosives if they come across them. They may be some of the most dangerous enemies that you have ever met," Reinette warned.

Lefevre nodded as he realized that for Reinette to say that it must be true because she wasn't given to hyperbole.

"Do you wish to go with us as we search for them or do you want to inspect the bodies?" Lefevre asked.

Clara looked sick as she said, "I'd rather not see the bodies if it's all the same to you, Jeanne."

"No, I won't force you to do that, Clara. I'd much rather go after whoever did this than to see their bloodthirsty handiwork. They must be stopped as soon as possible, and I'm not just saying that because of my own fear of them," Reinette reassured them.

"We'll set out immediately then, Marquise. We'll comb every inch of the neighborhood where the victims were found until we find whoever or whatever did this," Lefevre promised.

Before they could leave though, one of the Musketeers rushed up to them and bowed before Reinette and Lady Clara as he said, "Marquise, Captain, I have more news of the horrible murders. One of the victims managed to escape just now and has given us a description of her attacker. She said that it was a man whose face was half human and half . . . machine. It would sound incredible to me if I hadn't already faced things just as strange in your service before."

Reinette looked thoughtful as she said, "Maybe they're not harvesting the parts for a ship anymore. Maybe they're using them for themselves now as well."

"What? You think that they're trying to make themselves look human?" Clara asked in horror.

"Yes. In fact, maybe they already have. That description of yours won't do any good, Captain, if that's true. They could look like anyone now," Reinette said.

"How will we ever find them then?" Lefevre asked.

Reinette smiled as she said, "They don't breathe. That's how."

"They don't?" Clara asked in surprise.

"No, they don't. It's obvious when you think about it," Reinette said.

Then her eyes lit up as she realized, "You're right. Of course they don't. They don't need to, do they? They're mechanical. That's how we'll find them."

Lefevre looked at Reinette with a smile, impressed yet again by her wisdom, as he ordered the musketeers to look for people who were either half mechanical or who didn't breathe. He could only hope that they would be able to stop this new version of the clockwork men if they found them and that they hadn't made themselves even harder to kill than ever somehow.

Reinette seemed to sense his thoughts as she said, "No, I think that this version may be even easier to kill if they're half-human. That means that they'll be able to be killed like a human as well."

"I certainly hope so. After what I saw of their victims, I'll enjoy running a sword through them," Lefevre admitted.

Reinette, Clara, and the Musketeers then set out to find the Half-Face Man as Clara had dubbed him by looking around the same area that the latest victim had seen him in earlier. After searching for several hours, Captain Lefevre finally called off the search as dawn approached. His men needed the rest after all.

"I'll tell the next shift of Musketeers to look for them in the daytime and our unit will go out to look for him again tonight, Marquise. Don't worry. We will find them. We won't rest until we do," Lefevre assured her.

"I'm certain of that, Captain," Reinette said with a warm smile.

Then she and Clara left him while the Musketeers disbanded for the day. The two women returned to Versailles where they planned to sleep the rest of the day so that they could go again at night to look for the mysterious half-faced killer.

It didn't quite turn out that way though unfortunately.

As soon as Reinette and Clara arrived back at the palace, King Louis greeted Reinette with a tender kiss and said in a voice filled with concern, "There you are. I've been looking for you all night. You've been out hunting another one of your monsters haven't you? I see that you've dragged my poor cousin into it too just like usual. Are you alright, Clara? You look horrible."

"Thank you so much, Louis. It's so nice of you to notice," Clara said with a frown.

"I didn't mean it like that, Cousin. I just meant that you look ill. You really need to go to bed right away. If you don't, then as your king I'll order you to do so immediately. I wish that I could do the same to you, Jeanne, but unfortunately I need you at the moment," Louis said.

"For what?" Reinette asked curiously as she knew of nothing that was on her immediate schedule that she needed to have done today.

"There has been a . . . diplomatic incident in Spain involving our ambassador, who I've dismissed, and even talk of war between France and Spain. I need to talk to the Spanish ambassador today while I try to calm things down as quickly and efficiently as I can. I need Spain to stay on our side in case I need their help against the English in the near future which I just might if things keep going the way that they are over in America. I hate to ask you, Jeanne, but I would feel much better if you were there. You could help me to smooth things over because the Spanish respect you. Will you?" Louis asked.

Reinette nodded even though she felt very weary and said, "Yes, of course."

"Louis, she's just as tired as I am!" Clara protested.

"I know and I wouldn't do this normally, but I need every advantage that I can get. I can't afford a war with the Spanish at this time," Louis said.

"I'll go. I'll be fine, Clara. You go and get some sleep," Reinette said with a reassuring smile.

Clara gave her cousin a dirty look despite knowing that it might be considered grounds for execution even for her and then stomped off to her room. She swore to herself that if Reinette became sick because of this that not even being the king would save Louis from her wrath.

As soon as Clara entered her room, all thoughts of Reinette immediately went out of her mind though. She knew right away that something was wrong as soon as she shut the door. All of the contents of her closet had been emptied out on the floor but its door was closed.

"What?! Who's been in here?! What's the meaning of this? I'll slap the life out of them whoever they are!" Clara screamed as she started toward the closet door to see if there was anything left in there.

That turned out to be a huge mistake. As soon as she opened the door, she briefly screamed in fear before a powerful hand quickly clamped itself over her mouth. Before she could try to escape, the owner of the hand's other arm immediately snaked itself around her arms and waist in a grip of steel.

She was completely trapped in her own room, and there was no way to escape.

She began to feel that maybe she had finally met her doom after all. How ironic that it had come when and where that she had least expected it.

After a long, hard and physically grueling day, Louis finally managed to stop all talk of war and allowed Reinette to leave in order to go to sleep. She was barely able to even walk as she slowly headed back to her room.

"Are you alright? I told the king not to involve you in this because you had already been out searching for one of your monsters," Queen Marie said as she passed her in the hallway.

Reinette smiled at the Queen and said in a reassuring voice, "Yes, of course, Your Majesty. I'll be just fine as soon as I get some sleep. There's no need to worry about me."

"I do though. Despite your . . . position at the court you've always treated me with the utmost respect and kindness. Not all of your predecessors were as gracious as you are. In fact, I consider you to be a good friend," Marie said.

"As I do you, Your Majesty. Don't worry. I'll be perfectly fine as soon as I rest for a few hours," Reinette said.

"I'll make sure that he never does this to you again, Jeanne. You can count on that," Marie said.

"Between you and Clara, I'm sure that the king will never even think about doing anything like that again. She was very angry at him," Reinette told her with a chuckle.

Marie smiled as she said, "Yes, so I've heard. The king told me that he fears to be alone with her now or he might have to explain a broken jaw at his next appearance at the court."

"Knowing Clara he might have to explain far more than that. He might just have to explain why he can no longer produce anymore royal offspring," Reinette joked.

The two women laughed at that, and then Reinette couldn't help herself as she finally gave into her growing weariness. She began to yawn. It was a large quite noticeable yawn.

"Get to bed right now, Jeanne. That's an order," Marie said.

"Yes, Your Majesty. I'll see you later," Reinette said as she curtseyed and took her leave of her.

She approached her room in an almost dazed state now and quickly closed the door. She was so tired that she never even noticed a tied up and gagged Clara propped up against the wall on the other side of her room. She also never noticed the very half-faced man that she had been looking for standing behind her.

Not until it was far too late.

Reinette woke to find herself and Clara both tied up now and inside of a small cottage that she was certain was somewhere in the middle of the same area where the murders had taken place earlier. She knew then that she had just been captured by the murderer himself.

"Jeanne, are you alright?" Clara asked in concern.

"Yes, I am actually. I finally managed to get some sleep at last," Reinette joked.

"You'll be sleeping forever if we can't get out of here. That thing that you've been looking for is here somewhere. I think that he's going to take something out of us just as he did to the others that he killed," Clara said.

"I'm afraid to say that I'm almost sure of that," Reinette said in a solemn voice.

"Thank you so much for cheering me up," Clara said with a frown.

"I'm afraid that she's right, Lady Clara. I need more parts including a brain," The Half-Face Man said as he looked pointedly at Reinette.

"Yes, I remember that your kind wanted my brain before as well," Reinette remarked in an emotionally detached voice.

"That was a different version of us. I've long evolved past them as you can see. I don't want your brain for a ship. I want it for a quite different purpose. I'll need it and its great intelligence for one of us," The Half-Face Man said.

"One of you? You mean that you want to put Jeanne's brain in one of your servants' bodies?" Clara said in disgust.

"No, I don't want to put it in the body of a servant. You see in order to fit in among your kind as much as possible we've started to practice your customs as well as acting and dressing as you do. One of those customs includes marriage. I want the Marquise's brain for . . . my wife," The Half-Face Man said with a sinister smile.

Reinette and Clara both looked at one another in shock and repulsion as Clara said with a sigh, "Here we go again. How are you going to get us out of this one, Jeanne? You'd better come up with something fast because I do not want this to be how I'm remembered as having become spare parts to a machine with delusions of humanity."

Reinette began to start trying to think of a plan to escape immediately, but so far nothing was coming to her. She could only hope that the Doctor didn't go through all of that effort to save her all of her life only for it all to end up like this because she definitely did not want to spend the rest of eternity as this hideous thing's wife.

Now she was almost wishing that the Doctor hadn't saved her. She would have much rather have fallen to the other clockwork men instead. This would be a fate truly worse than death.

**Next: How do Reinette and Clara get out of this one? Is she really doomed to become the Half-Faced Man's bride?**


	2. Gumming Up The Works

CHAPTER 2

I do not own Doctor Who and I am making no profit off of this.

Thank you for your favorites, follows, and reviews!

GUMMING UP THE WORKS

The Half-Face Man finally left Reinette and Clara alone for a while shortly after he told them the gruesome details about what he was about to do to them. Reinette realized that he thought that she was now completely helpless and that there was no way that she could escape or he never would have done such a thing. As she struggled unsuccessfully for several minutes to escape from the complicated knots that he had tied in the ropes binding her, she wasn't so sure that he wasn't right about that either.

"Jeanne, hurry! He could come back at any time," Baroness Clara said in a frightened voice.

Reinette stiffened because this was one of the few times that she had ever heard any real fear in Clara's voice during one of their adventures together. That made her all the more determined to get her out of this in one piece somehow. She was never going to let anything happen to her as a result of going on one of her monster hunts. Not even if she had to die herself in order to keep her safe.

Let the Doctor's assertions of her importance to history be hanged in that situation.

"Think. Think!" Reinette muttered to herself as she wracked her brain (and the Doctor's memories) for a way to save them both while she still had the time.

Then she smiled as she came across the Once Lonely Angel's memories of a man who wouldn't even be born for over a hundred years. He was a master of escape from any and all forms of restraint.

She held her breath now as she prepared herself for the immense pain that was about to shoot through her body. Then she purposely dislocated her shoulder by striking it hard against the wall behind her.

As Reinette screamed out in pain, Clara shouted, "What are you doing?!"

"Using an escape method that the Doctor learned from a man named Harry Houdini, and it's just as painful as I thought that it would be," Reinette said through gritted teeth as she winced from the searing pain that now shot through her shoulder.

"Jeanne, are you alright?" Clara asked as she could see Reinette starting to turn pale and sweat profusely from the intensity of the pain.

"I'll be alright," Reinette lied as she now proceeded to slowly escape the ropes despite the almost irresistible urge to pass out.

As soon as she finished untying herself and then Clara, Reinette took a deep breath and then slammed her dislocated shoulder back into the wall once again. She smiled as she felt it go back into place once more.

"Stop that before you kill yourself!" Clara shouted as Reinette immediately fell forward into her arms after coming even closer to passing out that time.

"I freed us didn't I?" Reinette said in a voice still filled with pain.

"Yeah, but it may have been all for nothing if we can't get out of here. I think he locked the door when he left. It sounded like a lock clicked," Clara said as she gently helped Reinette back to her feet.

Clara tried the door and frowned as she said, "Yes, it's locked. I really hope that you brought your fancy new lockpick with you and that you can actually get it to work this time."

"It's not just a lockpick, Clara. It's called a sonic pen according to its previous owner, and I believe that I've finally learned how to use it correctly now. At least as far as picking locks go anyway. I still haven't figured out how to access all of its other uses just yet unfortunately," Reinette said as she pointed the pen at the lock.

Reinette had taken the sonic pen from an alien woman who had killed several citizens of Paris while promising them that she would help them lose weight with her 'miracle cure'. Reinette shuddered as she still vividly remembered seeing one poor woman literally dissolve into dozens of beings that she could only describe as walking pieces of fat.

The murderous woman behind all of this had only just escaped in time to avoid being captured by Reinette's Musketeers by using some kind of beam to travel up into an alien ship that had come to collect her. She always had wondered where she had gone to next after that. She hoped that wherever she wound up next that they were far more successful at stopping her than she had been.

Reinette smiled as she could hear the lock suddenly click open once again, and she triumphantly opened the door as she smirked at Clara. That would teach her to doubt her intelligence in the future!

Clara smiled as she said, "I knew that mocking you about it would spur you on to mastering it sooner or later. Besides that you're simply too stubborn to let anything stump you for long not even technology from another world."

Reinette smiled as she said, "Yes, I suppose you're right about that. You have to admit that my refusal to ever give up has gotten both of us out of certain death on more than one occasion however so I wouldn't talk so badly about it if I were you, Clara."

"I wasn't. I admire you highly for it actually, Madame de Bull," Clara admitted with a wicked smile.

Reinette glared at her as she said, "Don't start calling me by one of your cute little nicknames, Clara. I'm not in the mood for them right now. My shoulder is still aching immensely."

"Yes, I'm sure it is, Jeanne, and whose fault is that again?" Clara teased her even as she gave her a brief hug of gratitude.

Reinette immediately cried out in intense pain as Clara said apologetically, "Sorry. I thought I was being gentle."

"Stop testing my affection for you and hurry up if you don't want to get caught again, Baroness," Reinette said in a curt tone as she quickly unlocked the front door of the building.

"Sorry," Clara said again as she realized that she had pushed her too far even as she followed her outside.

Reinette smiled at her and said, "Wipe away that scared look on your face, Clara. You know that you're the one person in the world that I could never stay angry at for long although sometimes you push me to the very limits of my forgiveness."

"I'm always afraid someday that I'll go too far even for you though," Clara admitted.

"It'll never happen," Reinette assured her as she began to take in their surroundings.

She realized now that she had been right earlier. The cottage that they had just been in was in the same rundown area of Paris where the murders had occurred. To her surprise though, Versailles was still visible from it. She could actually see the comings and goings of everyone in and out of the palace where she stood.

"No wonder he knew exactly where to find us. He's been watching us," Reinette realized.

"Of course I have. I've been watching all of you at the royal court from afar for a while now, Marquise. That's why I picked you to be my wife because I found out about the massive amount of influence that you have there. I'll need that power in order to keep my activities from being discovered until I'm ready to leave," The Half-Face Man said as he suddenly appeared out of nowhere.

"I'm afraid that's never going to happen. You're not facing a person on their last legs now. This time I'm ready for you," Reinette said.

The Half-Face Man smiled as he said, "Are you also ready to fight yourself as well?"

"What?" Reinette said in confusion.

"Jeanne, look out!" Clara screamed.

Reinette moved just in time to avoid being punched in the face, but unfortunately she didn't escape being hit in the shoulder in the very next moment.

It was the very same one that had previously been dislocated.

Reinette screamed in agonizing pain even as she finally realized exactly who her newest assailant was: herself! She was being assaulted by an exact duplicate of herself.

"She could be my twin and yet she's obviously one of your kind instead. How did you do this?" Reinette asked as she ducked yet another powerful punch that had almost connected with her other shoulder.

The Half-Face Man smiled as he said, "Did I do a good job in recreating your likeness, Marquise? I believe that I created a perfect double of you so that no one will ever be able to tell that you're any different. I formed her from memory out of flesh and blood and metal so that I would have an indestructible body to place your brain inside. It will be a body that will constantly keep your mind under my complete control with the neural implants that I have placed within its head that will plug directly into your mind."

"You're not doing anything to her while I'm around, Metal Boy," Clara said as she threw a large stone at the Half-Face Man's head which made him cry out in surprise.

He looked at her in anger as she said, "What's the matter? Did you forget all about me during your little rant?"

"No, I haven't forgotten you at all, my dear. I have a little surprise planned for you as well," Half-Face Man said as he began to smile now.

Clara's heart stopped for a brief moment as a perfect duplicate of her now appeared and began racing towards her. She now knew that Half-Face Man had the same fate planned for her as he did Reinette. He was going to place her brain in a mechanical duplicate of herself that he could use to control her.

As Clara dodged her double's deadly attacks, she said, "I still don't understand why you want me for? Is it because of the influence that I have over my cousin, the king? If it is, you're making a huge mistake. He never listens to me. Ever."

"I don't want you for your connection to the king. I want you for your access to someone far more powerful than he could ever be. The TARDIS of a Time Lord. I will use your mind to peer into the mind of Clara Oswald through your mental connection to her. Using you, I will know everything that she knows, and I will be able to see everything that the Doctor is doing," The Half-Face Man said.

"How do you know about Clara and the Doctor?" Clara asked in surprise as she continued to run for her life from her murderous metal duplicate.

"I was told about both of them and you and your friend by a man of your very own time oddly enough. He seemed to know all about them including what they would do to me when they run across me in my own future. He's the one who warned me that the Doctor was supposed to lead me to my death in the late 1800s. That will never happen now though. I'll make sure of it and you'll help me by telling me of his every movement. Maybe I'll eventually even gain enough control over you where I'll be able to make you lead him straight into a trap that he'll never even see coming," The Half-Face Man said with an evil laugh.

"You haven't gotten either of us yet and now that I know what you have planned I'll make sure that you never will," Reinette said as she overheard him.

"You have no choice, Marquise. Sooner or later, you will tire and begin to wear down. That's when your duplicate will finally capture you because it will never grow tired. It will just keep going until it finally has you," The Half-Face Man said with a smug smile.

Reinette knew that this was true because she could already feel herself beginning to tire. The throbbing pain in her shoulder wasn't helping either. It seemed to actually be sapping her strength the longer that it hurt her.

She had to think quickly or both she and Clara would be doomed to a life of eternal servitude.

Then she smiled to herself as she pulled the remnants of one of Clara's soufflés out of her pocket. Surely if it could kill one of the Doctor's monsters, then perhaps it could also help destroy one of these new half human metal men as well.

The trick was in getting her double to ingest it without getting captured first.

She decided to take a calculated risk as she suddenly stopped running and said, "I surrender."

Reinette's double was now frozen in her tracks and stood there hesitating as Reinette said, "Well, go on. Take me. I'm ready."

The mechanical woman moved at lightning speed in the blink of an eye and was suddenly standing right in front of Reinette as she started to wrap one of her powerful arms around her. That was when Reinette moved quickly before she could pin her arms to her sides and pushed part of the soufflé into her mouth.

Reinette's duplicate suddenly stopped moving and then seemed to completely freeze up within a matter of moments while she watched her. It had worked! The soufflé had completely clogged up the gears and cogs inside of the double's metal body and forced them to stop moving before she could kill her.

"What was that?" The Half-Face Man said as he stared at her in disbelief.

"It was my greatest weapon apparently," Reinette said with a smile.

"Whatever it is, I could use some of it over here, Jeanne. Now!" Clara shouted as she continued to run from her double's relentless pursuit.

"You already have some. It's in your pocket. You never finished eating it," Reinette said.

"My soufflé? You stopped the metal woman with my soufflé?! Ordinarily I'd be extremely insulted by that, but right now I just don't care," Clara said as she did the same thing that Reinette had done and surrendered to her double.

Even as Clara clogged her double's internal gears up with what was left of her soufflé (which had tasted so badly that even she hadn't been able to finish it), Reinette started to race after the Half-Face Man who had started to flee the scene in case either woman had any soufflé left over for him. The tables were turned now as Reinette started to pursue the robotic killer instead of the other way around.

The funny thing was that she had absolutely no idea what she would do if she caught him. Unfortunately she had already run out of the soufflé.

She wasn't thinking about that at the moment however. For once she was acting on pure emotion and allowing it to override her usual calm logical approach that she used when it came to dealing with the monsters that invaded her home. She just wanted to stop him right then and there so that he could never come back and bother her again.

She was tired of being the clockwork men's victim.

As it turned out, Reinette didn't need to have a plan. The Half-Face Man was suddenly face to face with several of her Musketeers including Captain Lefevre who were all pointing either guns or swords at him.

"Surrender now or die," Lefevre threatened.

The Half-Face Man briefly hesitated and then he raced right towards them. He moved so quickly that he knocked all of the Musketeers over with a single massive shove forward, and then he raced away before any of the men could fire a single shot. He was completely out of sight before they could even get to their feet to go after him.

As the Musketeers chased after him, Reinette had a feeling that they would never catch up to him now. He was gone. She hoped that he never returned.

He would never return to Paris again but it wouldn't be the last that anyone ever saw of him. One day he would reappear in the middle of London in the late 1800s, and he would be waiting for the Doctor and Clara there.

He was still determined that he was not going to die there as the Italian ambassador at the Spanish court had warned him that he would when he had briefly stayed in Spain. This time history would change, and it would be the Doctor who died instead.

Then he would use the power of his wife to finally take him to the Promised Land at last.

Captain Lefevre stayed behind with Reinette and Clara while the other Musketeers searched for the Half-Face Man. He could see that they were both near exhaustion, and he led them back into the cottage that had once imprisoned them so that they could sit down and relax for a moment.

"I'm sorry that I didn't get here sooner, Marquise. I didn't realize that you were even missing until you failed to show up for our scheduled monster patrol today. When we went to your room to check up on you, we quickly realized that your bed hadn't even been slept in. That's when we started to look for you in this area. I had a feeling, knowing you and the Baroness as I do, that both of you would be here along with our mysterious killer. The two of you are always right in the middle of any trouble that happens to be in the area at that moment," Lefevre said.

Then he realized exactly who he was saying this to and immediately apologized as he said, "I'm sorry. I apologize most humbly for my blatant disrespect."

Reinette and Clara both laughed at him as Reinette said, "What is it that you're apologizing for, Captain? Telling us the truth about ourselves? I believe that we can handle it."

Lefevre looked at them in surprise and then smiled as he said, "You're not going to report me to the king then?"

"Of course not, Captain. We like you. We're not going to have you killed just for hurting our feelings a little bit. Honest," Clara said with a warm smile.

"Thank you," Lefevre said gratefully.

Then he offered both of them some of his rations as he said, "You both look like you haven't eaten in hours. Have some of this."

As they gratefully ate what he gave them, they became more than his immediate superiors or members of the royal family to him. That was the day that they also became his friends.

At that moment in the Spanish court, Duke Federico Moretti, the same Italian ambassador who had warned Half-Face Man about the Doctor, frowned at the news that he was now receiving. He had just heard that the Half-Face Man was still in the London of the late 1800s and about to cross the Doctor's path in the exact same way after all instead of those events being completely changed as he had hoped that they would be.

He was hearing about this from a man who was his exact duplicate who lived in that future time and place and was communicating that fact to him across the ages telepathically. Both men were part of an old enemy of the Doctor's named Scaroth who had been splintered and scattered across time on Earth just as Clara had been throughout time and space.

Unlike Clara's echoes who could only talk to her, they could all communicate with each other as well. They were now using this ability to work together in the hopes of changing history so that the Half-Face Man would kill the Doctor instead of the other way around as a way of gaining their revenge on him.

It seemed that that attempt to change things had failed however, and they were both still on a collision course with each other anyway. Only time itself would show whether the Half-Face Man's foreknowledge of his own fate would save him from death this time around or not.

For the moment at least though time was still in flux, and nothing had been set in stone just yet. The Doctor still had a chance to save himself. It was a chance that he would have never had without Reinette and Baroness Clara, who was even now warning Clara Oswald about what had just happened through her connection to her.

Both sides were now evenly forewarned so that the upcoming battle between them could still go either way without either possessing an advantage over the other. The ultimate victory could still go to either man.

That's a story for another time though.

**Next: Reinette and Clara come across a mysterious and secretive woman with fiery red hair and strange looking clothing who has seemingly appeared right out of thin air. It's up to Reinette and Clara to discover the truth about this strange girl. Is she as lost and disoriented as she seems to be or is she yet another one of the many monsters who routinely invade France these days in disguise? Exactly who is this woman who calls herself Amy Pond?**

**As for the fate of the Half-Face Man, don't worry. I'll definitely have more to say about that later on. This is only the start of that story. You can think of it as a prequel to the upcoming Clara Who version of Deep Breath that I'm planning. **


	3. Whatever Happened To Amy Pond?

CHAPTER 3

I do not own Doctor Who and I am making no profit off of this.

Thank you for your favorites, follows, and reviews!

WHATEVER HAPPENED TO AMY POND?

Amy Pond stood there before the Weeping Angel who had taken her husband, her very life itself, away from her and shook with emotion as she made the most important decision of her life. She summoned up all of her courage and then plunged straight ahead into the unknown as she looked away from the angel while giving the Doctor a tear-filled final goodbye.

Then in the blink of an eye, she was suddenly somewhere else.

She looked around her in amazement to see that she was now standing in front of a magnificent ornate palace that looked like something straight out of a fairy tale. She knew right away that something was wrong.

"There is no way that this is Manhattan. This couldn't even be a past Manhattan," Amy said to herself with growing fear in her heart.

What if Rory wasn't here? What if the angel had taken her to the wrong time and place entirely?

What if she had just lost the Doctor and River too for nothing?

She wouldn't allow herself to think such thoughts though. Not yet. Rory could still be here somewhere. Maybe she just hadn't found him yet.

As Amy tried hard to hold onto that one last glimmer of hope, she heard a voice suddenly call out, "Halt! Who are you? Identify yourself now."

Amy turned her head to see several Musketeers with their swords and guns drawn and aimed at her now rapidly surrounding her. She now knew beyond a doubt that she was no longer in Manhattan or even the Twentieth or Twenty-First Century for that matter.

"You stupid statue! Does this look like Manhattan to you? You put me in the middle of France!" Amy shouted in frustration to the now long gone Weeping Angel.

"She's talking to statues, Captain. She must be mad," One of the Musketeers said as he looked at her warily.

"Or perhaps she merely wishes us to think so in order to draw us into a state of false security. She could be another of the Marquise's monsters in disguise," Captain Lefevre said.

"Perhaps, sir, but why would she dress in such outlandish clothes, especially such revealing ones, if she were? Wouldn't she want to fit in much better than this in order to fool us?" A Musketeer asked.

"Perhaps she isn't a particularly intelligent monster," Another Musketeer said causing the others to laugh.

Amy glared at them as she said, "Oh, I am just loving this so far. First I find out that I'm stuck in the wrong time and place entirely then I wind up being surrounded by a bunch of third-rate extras out of a Three Musketeers movie who not only insult my clothes but also my intelligence. I have had more than enough of all of this! The next person who says anything negative about me whatsoever gets their jaw broken!"

The Musketeers could see that she meant what she said from the look of pure undiluted anger and frustration on her face. They all unconsciously backed away from her at once and stood a respectful distance from her now as she began to look like she was just one step away from attacking all of them at any moment.

"This one has fire in her eyes, Captain. We need to be extra careful around her especially if she's one of the monsters," A Musketeer advised.

Even through the mixture of emotions that were now filling her heart and threatening to tear her apart at any moment, Amy still retained her keen wit and natural curiosity. She recognized that this was now the third time that they had mentioned monsters. Could they mean aliens?

"These monsters that you're looking for what do they look like? What have they been doing?" Amy asked as she automatically shifted into investigative mood.

Lefevre looked at her in surprise as she started to remind him of Reinette now. She was starting to ask questions and assess the situation just as she would.

Something told him that this woman and the Marquise just might be kindred spirits.

"The monsters come in all shapes and forms. They could be anyone and anything including a madwoman who suddenly appears out of nowhere and speaks to statues," A Musketeer said with suspicion.

"The statues could be the same ones that the Marquise fought not long ago however. She said that they could displace people in time. Perhaps she is one of their victims," Lefevre said.

"You're encountered the Weeping Angels here too? You're seen statues that move when you're not looking at them?" Amy asked with renewed optimism.

Maybe she could get a second chance at finding Rory after all. Or would they now no longer be able to affect her at all since one of them had already sent her back in time once? If they were here and there was no trace of Rory anywhere as there seemed to be, then she was certainly going to do her best to find out.

"The Marquise and the one called the Doctor fought them, yes. The Doctor and his wife destroyed them all. Hopefully they're gone forever," Lefevre said.

Amy's eyes widened as she said in a hopeful tone, "The Doctor and his wife? Was this a man with a huge chin wearing a bow tie who acted like a large overgrown child and a woman with curly blonde hair and a large smile on her face that always carries a huge gun around with her? Did they both come in a blue box?"

"Your description matches the Doctor and his box well enough but not his wife," Lefevre said.

Amy's heart felt as if it was being ripped out as she said, "River's not with him? Then this could be . . . This could be after she's already gone. Is the Doctor still here? I need to see him. Please! He's a friend of mine."

The Musketeers all looked at each other with uncertainty as Lefevre said, "He's gone but the Marquise knows him well. If anyone might be able to contact him, it would surely be her."

"Take me to her. I need to talk to her right away," Amy pleaded.

"What business do you have with her? Who are you if you're not one of the monsters?" Lefevre asked.

"My name is Amy Pond and my husband and I travel with the Doctor or at least we did anyway. We were both separated from him by some of those living statues that you came across before. I need to find him and my husband again. Have you heard of anyone else suddenly appearing out of nowhere today or anytime recently?" Amy asked.

"No, I'm afraid not. I'm sorry," Lefevre said sympathetically.

He was starting to believe what she said. He was almost convinced now that she really was exactly who she said that she was. He could tell that the Musketeers remained unconvinced though from the way that they continued to look at her with undisguised suspicion and animosity.

"Captain, word around the palace says that there is a madwoman out here talking about the Doctor and asking to see me. Is this her?" Reinette asked as she suddenly came out of the Palace of Versailles with a worried look on her face.

"Yes, this is her, Marquise," Lefevre said.

"Let me see her," Reinette ordered.

Lefevre bowed to her and the Musketeers automatically stepped aside and created a path for her as she made her way to Amy. Several of the Musketeers quickly surrounded Reinette however ready to defend her at a moment's notice if Amy turned out to not be as friendly as she claimed to be.

Amy couldn't help but smile at this display of respect and devotion as she said, "I take it that you're someone very important around here from the way that they're acting. I'm Amy Pond, a friend of the Doctor's and yours too I hope. Right now with all of these guns and swords being pointed at me I really hope so."

"I am Jeanne Antoinette Poisson and I too am a friend of the Doctor's," Reinette said as she slowly moved closer to Amy.

"Why does that name sound so familiar to me for? It's like I've heard it somewhere before but I can't remember where," Amy wondered out loud.

"You may be more familiar with my title, Madame de Pompadour," Reinette said.

Amy's mouth dropped open as she said, "THE Madame de Pompadour? You've got to be kidding me."

"Why would I joke about such a matter?" Reinette asked with seeming seriousness but with the slightest traces of a smile trying to form at the corners of her mouth.

Amy was starting to feel better now. She was starting to get the impression of Reinette as someone who had a healthy sense of humor. Surely you could always trust someone with a good sense of humor, right?

"Madame? Marquise? I'm not sure how to refer to you and I don't want to be insulting. I need your help to get back to my husband and the Doctor. The captain here said that maybe you could bring him back here. Can you?" Amy asked.

Reinette smiled at her kindly because she could sense exactly how out of her element Amy felt here as she said, "My friends call me Reinette or Jeanne, Amy. I'd like to count you among that number. Yes, I may be able to contact the Doctor or at least my friend, Clara, might be able to at any rate. She can sometimes talk to his wife across time. It's difficult to explain but she has a connection to her."

"Please talk to her and ask her to do that for me, will you?" Amy pleaded.

"Don't worry. I'm already attempting to contact her already," Baroness Clara said as she came out of the palace.

"Were you standing inside the entrance eavesdropping on us, Clara?" Reinette asked in amusement.

"I certainly was. How else would I ever find out anything around here?" Clara said with a grin.

Then she suddenly stiffened as she said, "She heard me. She said that she's sending someone to talk to you right away. She said that it's someone who you're familiar with already."

"River?" Amy asked hopefully.

"I don't know. She didn't say," Clara admitted.

Amy stared at her closely as she said, "Do I know you from somewhere? You look very familiar to me for some reason as if I've met you before, and I could swear that your voice sounds like one that I've heard before too."

Clara and Reinette exchanged glances knowing that Amy could be talking about any of the original Clara's echoes or even about Clara herself.

"No, it wasn't me," Clara assured her.

Amy nodded and then her eyes bulged out of her head and she smiled as a familiar voiced behind her said, "Orange Haired Girl!"

Amy turned to see Idris standing there with a large smile on her face looking just as she had when she had last seen her years before. Finally a familiar face at last!

"Idris, I am so glad to see you. So the Doctor found a way to bring you back after all. Are you the one that he married then?" Amy asked.

"Sort of in a manner of speaking and yet I'm not his wife at all if you look at it in another way," Idris said with an enigmatic smile.

"You're still as confusing as ever I see. Have you come to take me back to the Doctor now?" Amy asked with a smile.

"No, you're not supposed to travel with him anymore. That time has passed. Or is it passing or will pass? I always get confused about how to say these things," Idris said.

"Why are you here then? Do you know where Rory is? Is he here?" Amy asked.

"No, he's in Manhattan just as he was supposed to be. Just as you should be, Orange Haired Girl. I'm here to tell you how to get to him. It's a rift in time that will soon open up nearby. You must be looking for it and ready to jump into it as quickly as you can. It will lead you straight to the Pretty One," Idris instructed.

"It's like the crack in my wall then? How is it being created? Did the Doctor blow you up again?" Amy asked.

Idris suddenly morphed into an exact duplicate of Baroness Clara who said, "I am creating it for you, Amy. It will appear very soon now and you've got to go through it as quickly as you can when it does. I won't be able to keep it open for long."

"What the? Why does she look like you?" Amy said to the Baroness Clara.

"I'm a part of her. That's the original Clara, the Doctor's wife and the TARDIS," Baroness Clara said.

"You! I do know you. You said that you were the TARDIS before when I met you in modern day Paris* but I didn't believe you. So he married you, huh? That figures," Amy said with a grin.

"Clara, can you give us an exact time and location for this rift so that my Musketeers can be looking for it?" Reinette asked.

Clara Idris shook her head as she said, "No, I'm afraid that I can't be that accurate. All I can say is that it will be somewhere nearby in the near future. It'll send Amy to Rory and then she'll finally have the life that she wanted at last."

"Why can't you just take her there, my friend?" Reinette asked.

"I can't take the chance of the Doctor finding out. Even now I'm sending a holographic version of myself so that he won't notice me missing. I have to do it this way so that he never knows that he could have gotten Amy back. He would be tempted to rescue her if he did know and if he did she would never see Rory again. That is what you want, isn't it, Amy?" Clara Idris asked.

"Yes, it is. I just want a normal life now," Amy admitted.

"I thought so. Be looking for the rift, Amy. Good luck and goodbye," Clara Idris said as her image faded away.

The Musketeers looked on with blank looks of shock on their faces as Lefevre said with a wicked smile, "Now do you believe the stories when they say that the Marquise knows the angels?"

Reinette smiled and shook her head at him as she said, "Stop that, Captain. I can assure all of you that that was no angel. My Clara would be the first one to tell you that no version of her could ever be considered as such."

"Hey!" Baroness Clara protested with a smile.

Reinette chuckled as she said, "You know what I mean."

"Yeah, but that doesn't mean that it's okay for you to go around telling everyone all about it, Jeanne," Clara said.

Lefevre smiled at the two friends' playful banter with each other just as he always did before saying to the Musketeers, "You heard what the other Baroness Clara said, men. Be on the lookout for any mysterious happenings in the immediate area in the next few days and report them to me or the Marquise immediately. Is that understood?"

As the Musketeers nodded, Amy looked at Reinette with concern as she asked, "Uh, I know that I have no right to ask this, Reinette, but could I maybe stay with you until the rift appears since I have nowhere else to go?"

Amy had decided to call her Reinette instead of Jeanne because it sounded much more formal, and she wasn't close enough to her yet to call her by her first name. She was trying to be as pleasant as possible to her because from everything that she had read about her the Madame de Pompadour had incredible power and could easily have her killed if she wanted. Yet that wasn't the feeling that she got from this woman at all.

She was could tell right away that Reinette was very kind and generous just from the way that she was looking at her. No wonder the Doctor was friends with her. She was just as kind as he was, but she could sense that she was also capable of being just as dangerous if she had to be.

Reinette smiled at Amy and nodded as she said, "I already have a room in mind for you, Amy. You'll be my guest at Versailles for as long as you wish. Don't worry about a thing from now on. I'll make certain that you're reunited with your husband."

"Thank you," Amy said as she curtsied to her.

"You don't have to do that. Treat me as you would any other friend when we're not in the presence of any of the royal family. I want you to feel at ease around me. You already look like you're worried enough as it is," Reinette reassured her.

Amy sighed with relief realizing that she had read Reinette correctly as she said, "Thank you. I really hate being this pleasant all the time. It's just not me. I'm usually a lot more aggressive, and I tend to say what I think at all times without caring how it makes anyone else feel."

Reinette laughed as she said while looking pointedly at Clara, "I already have one friend like that, and now I have another one it seems."

"You're doing a very good job at making me feel really special today with your little putdowns, Jeanne. I just want you to know that," Clara said as she rolled her eyes at her.

"It's all meant in jest of course," Reinette said as she kissed her cheek.

"I know but I just like to hear you say it," Clara admitted with a smile.

"You seem to have a real self-confidence problem," Amy observed.

This expression of frankness with one of the royal family immediately made the Musketeers look on with alarmed expressions on their faces. This sort of behavior was highly improper to say the least. Reinette smiled and silently assured them that it was alright which made Lefevre smile.

Her total unconcern with putting on airs was one of the many things that he had come to expect from both her and the Baroness. This definitely made both of them unlike anyone else at Versailles and also made them extremely beloved by both aristocrats and commoners alike.

"Oh, so you're just now noticing that are you, Mrs. Pond?" Clara joked.

Amy's face immediately fell and Reinette said with concern, "Are you alright?"

"Yes, I'm fine. I just . . . I just miss my husband a lot right now," Amy said as she tried unsuccessfully to hold back her tears.

"I understand, Amy. I promise that you will get to see him again very soon now though. Now come with me and I'll find you something less . . . revealing to wear. You'll be the scandal of Versailles wearing the fashions of your time I'm afraid," Reinette said as she eyed Amy's clothing with a frown.

"Is that really what women of your time wear?" Clara asked Amy in curiosity.

"Yeah, more or less I suppose. I tend to favor outfits with short skirts even by the standards of my time though I have to admit," Amy said with a mischievous grin.

Clara smiled as she said, "I suppose that's all well and good for you, Amy, but I prefer what the other Clara wore just now better I think."

"Tight skirts? Yeah, I guess those are good too if you're a little on the short side," Amy joked.

"I am not short," Clara protested.

Amy saw the looks on the Musketeers' faces then and froze in mid-smile as she said, "I was just kidding. They're not going to shoot me for that are they? They're really giving me the evil eye all of a sudden."

"It's alright. We'll allow it, won't we, Clara?" Reinette said in a loud voice so that the Musketeers could hear her.

"Well, I don't know. I feel kind of offended myself," Clara said.

"What?" Amy said in alarm as she saw several of the Musketeers giving her murderous glances.

Clara smiled at her warmly as she said, "It's okay."

Then she whispered to a still nervous Amy, "That'll teach you to call me short, won't it?"

Amy would have been worried about that if Clara hadn't winked at her and put her arm around her shoulder as she started to lead her inside the palace. She realized now that Clara was just as kind as Reinette if not more so.

Before the three women could enter the palace however, a young girl who looked to be in her mid-teens wearing ripped and tattered clothes came running up to them and curtseyed as she bowed her head to Reinette. Reinette instantly raised her head for her as she looked at her disapprovingly.

"Josette, I've told you time and again that you don't need to do that. Why are you still wearing that horrible dress? I gave you some of my own clothing for you to wear the last time that I saw you. Why aren't you wearing it?" Reinette asked with a frown.

"I wanted to save it for a special occasion, Marquise. I didn't want it to get dirty," Josette said.

"I've already told you to call me Reinette or Jeanne, Josette. So I see that I'll just have to give you another dress then so that you won't ever wear this thing again won't I?" Reinette said with a warm smile.

"Josette, why are you here? I'm sure that it wasn't to be reprimanded like a little girl by Jeanne, was it?" Clara interrupted.

"No, Baroness. It was to report an appearance by another of the Marquise's, I mean Reinette's, monsters. These look like knights wearing armor but they have heads that look like potatoes when they remove their helmets," Josette said.

"Sontarans," Amy said recognizing them by their description.

"Yes," Reinette agreed as she gestured for Josette to continue with her story.

"They're attacking my entire village, Marquise. I came here on foot as fast as I could to ask for your help. Will you please send someone to help us?" Josette said as she began to sway back and forth.

"Of course I will," Reinette said as she put a steadying arm around the woman to stop her from falling.

"Captain, send the Musketeers there at once. Tell them to aim for the round hole in the back of their necks for a kill shot. That's their weak spot. Give Josette something to eat and two of my dresses to wear back home. Then let her have my bed to sleep in. Her village is twenty miles from here and she just ran that entire way by herself. Never do that again, Josette," Reinette chastised her.

Josette nodded and said with a fond smile, "Thank you, Marquise. I knew that you would help."

One of the Musketeers led her inside the palace while the rest of them went to the village on horseback. Reinette and Clara meanwhile led Amy into the palace right behind Josette.

While Reinette went on ahead to make arrangements with the servants for Josette to spend the night in her room, Amy looked at Clara with curiosity. She wondered if she should ask her anything though. This wasn't her home after all.

"What is it, Amy?" Clara finally said as she led Amy into a room that Reinette always had set aside for her guests to use.

"Is Josette a close friend of hers? I just wondered why she was so nice to her. I know that it's none of my business," Amy said.

Clara smiled as she said, "That's just who she is, Amy. She's generous and kind to all of the people no matter how much or how little that they have. She likes to look after them as best as she can especially the ones like Josette who have no one else. Jeanne has been like a surrogate mother to her ever since she was orphaned in one of the monster attacks on her village a few months ago. I think that Jeanne would adopt her if she thought that Louis would let her get away with it."

"So she's extremely kind to and looks after children. Oh, yeah. I can really see why the Doctor likes her alright," Amy said as she liked Reinette more and more herself by the moment.

Clara smiled at her as she saw what Amy was thinking and said, "Come on. You need to get some rest yourself. You look like you've about had it. Hopefully soon you'll be able to find your way back to your husband again."

"I certainly hope so. I guess I'll take you up on that offer of a bed tonight, Clara. You're right. I am just about on my last legs," Amy admitted.

"Really? That must take some doing. Those legs go on for miles," Clara said with a snicker.

"Very funny," Amy said with a frown that quickly turned to a smile as Clara showed her to the closet which was filled with Reinette's clothes.

Amy looked on in disbelief as she said, "Not a short skirt in the bunch but otherwise they're all wonderful."

Clara rolled her eyes at her even as neither woman noticed that they were being observed through the still open door from the hallway nearby by a woman wearing a veil. She walked away at a brisk pace as she left the palace as fast as she could.

"It seems that one of the Doctor's friends has just arrived at Versailles. She might recognize us and stop our plan even more effectively than the accursed Sontarans ever could have," She said as she met up with another woman not too far away.

The other woman shook her head as she said, "That is highly doubtful. Amelia Pond has come across our kind before but I doubt that she will be able to see through us as long as we keep our usual low profile. Just stick to your orders and do as you have been told. Soon our plan will come to fruition at last, and the Rutans will quickly gain a final crucial advantage against the Sontaran rabble. Soon we will finally score the winning victory against them at long last and end the war between us forever."

***See Clara Who Chapter 2 for the full story.**

**Next: Exactly what are the Rutans up to? Find out next time as Reinette, Clara, and Amy must work together to stop all of human history from being changed forever. Also the rift appears at last. Will Amy even have a chance to get to it though with all of this going on?**


	4. The Hour of the Wrecker

CHAPTER 4

I do not own Doctor Who and I am making no profit off of this.

Thank you for your favorites, follows, and reviews!

THE HOUR OF THE WRECKER

Reinette briefly looked in on Josette to see that she was still sleeping and smiled as she quietly closed the door. Her young friend had been asleep for at least ten hours now which showed just how worn out that she was from her long journey to get help from her.

"Do you want me to wake her, Marquise?" One of the palace servants asked.

"No, just let her rest," Reinette said in a soft tone.

"She's using your bed though and you need some sleep yourself. You look tired," The servant said.

Then she caught herself knowing that she was speaking out of place here since she was not a member of the aristocracy even if she did regard Reinette as a friend and said, "I'm sorry. I . . ."

"It's alright. You were just worrying about me, Gabrielle, and I appreciate it. I'm fine though. I've had nights where I haven't slept before so I'm already used to it,' Reinette said in a sad voice.

Gabrielle nodded knowing that she was referring to all of those nights that she had been terrorized by the mechanical men. No one else had believed her about them when she had been growing up but she always had. She had believed her because she had seen them herself once. She had just been terrified to admit it to anyone else but the young Jeanne.

The two of them had bonded over that and had been friends ever since then with Gabrielle always constantly looking out for her as she watched her grow from a terrorized child into one of the most powerful people in France.

She couldn't help but think that the mechanical men had had something to do with that and that Reinette had become so powerful in order to make sure that no one else could ever make her feel that helpless again. Perhaps that was also why she tried to help others so much so that no one else ever had to feel that way either.

In a way those traumatic events had made her who she was and had helped define her even as they left a series of hidden scars on her psyche.

"Let her sleep as long as she wants and then make sure that she's well fed when she wakes up. Don't let her go home no matter how much she complains. Not until the Musketeers tell me that it's safe there," Reinette ordered.

Gabrielle nodded and then bowed as Clara and Amy came into the room. Clara frowned while Amy looked uncomfortable in more ways than one.

"Gaby, how many times do I have to tell you that you don't have to do that when it's just me and Jeanne? Amy, will you stop scratching and tugging at your dress? It's annoying," Clara said.

"Stop it, Clara. You sound like a teacher disciplining her students. Gabrielle and Amy are both our friends," Reinette said.

"Of course they are but that doesn't mean that I can't tease them does it?" Clara said with a smile.

"For your information, Shorty, this dress is extremely itchy and is way too tight plus I can't even see my feet. I just keep bumping into things. How did you people ever stand to wear these things? It's just like being inside of a Dalek," Amy complained.

"No wonder you can't see your feet. You're about twenty feet tall. I'm surprised that you even remember what they look like," Clara joked.

"If you weren't a Baroness . . ." Amy said with a scowl.

"Don't let that stop you. Finish that sentence for us, Giant Girl," Clara said with a mocking smile.

Gabrielle started to laugh despite herself and probably would have continued to do so for several minutes if Captain Lefevre hadn't suddenly entered the room in the very next moment. Lefevre rushed straight towards Reinette in a hurry which instantly told her that he had just found out something very, very important.

"Marquise, we have captured one of the potato heads alive which was much harder than you would think since they refused to surrender no matter how outnumbered they were," Lefevre said in an out of breath voice.

"I understand, Captain. That's because the Sontarans consider it cowardly to surrender," Reinette said as she gestured for him to continue.

"The one that we did capture finally told us why he and his brothers are here. They're after another set of monsters who can disguise themselves as human beings just like the mechanical men. They know that they're here somewhere, but they don't know where yet. I came to warn you as soon as I heard the potato head's story. They could be after the King," Lefevre said.

"So the Rutans are here too then. They've brought their horrible war to Earth," Reinette said with a sigh.

"How do you know about that? Did the Doctor tell you?" Amy asked in surprise.

"In a way. I have many of his memories since I explored his mind," Reinette said.

"It wouldn't be the first time that the Rutans have tried to interfere in Earth's history. The Doctor and I came across them in England once, and they were a part of the Gunpowder Plot against the English King. Maybe they're up to their old tricks again," Amy said.

"I should warn the king," Lefevre said in alarm after hearing this.

"Yes, you should but do it in private. There's no need to cause a panic just yet. Could you have the Sontaran brought here in secret? I'd like to question him myself," Reinette said.

Lefevre's face fell as he said, "The potato head managed to get free after he told us about his enemies, and he tried to kill several of our men. We had no choice but to . . ."

Reinette nodded and interrupted him as she said, "I understand. It's their way, Captain. They would lose honor if they didn't die in battle. It's not your fault. So is the village cleared of them now?"

"Yes, for the moment. I'm not sure if that was all of them or not though. There could easily be others roaming about the countryside," Lefevre said.

"I agree so continue to look for them and let me know if you find any more of them. Until then, I'll just have to be on the lookout for anyone acting strangely here," Reinette said.

"Maybe I should leave a pair of Musketeers here to guard you," Lefevre offered.

"No, I'll be fine. You need all of the men that you can get. Besides that, I already have Clara and Amy with me. No Rutan would dare to come near me with them constantly squabbling with one another nearby at all times. They'd be too afraid," Reinette said with a mischievous smile.

"Very funny," Clara said with a frown.

Lefevre nodded even though his expression told Reinette that he was still unsure about leaving her there undefended. Then he swiftly left to go warn the king.

"The Rutans could be posing as anyone and they could already be here in the palace right now. This is just wonderful. No Doctor, no Rory, but still plenty of aliens around. I just can't get away from murderous aliens out to kill me no matter how hard I try," Amy said in disbelief.

"It's going to be alright, Amy. We'll find them and then we'll quickly put an end to whatever they're up to on this planet. I will not have this war brought to France," Reinette said in a stern voice.

Amy smiled at her as she said, "You know when you say it like that I almost believe it."

"You should. She usually winds up doing exactly what she says that she will no matter how mad it might sound at the time," Clara said.

"I never sound mad, Clara," Reinette said indignantly.

"Sure you don't," Clara said with a smile.

"You two are so sisters," Amy said with a grin.

"I wish," Clara said meaning it which earned her a warm smile from Reinette.

Suddenly they were interrupted by a woman with a veil who knocked and then walked inside of Reinette's room without even waiting for her to give her permission to enter. Reinette couldn't help but smile as she could already see from the look on Clara's face that she was going to give her a piece of her mind for that.

"What's the hurry, Lady Swift? I'm sure that it must be something very important for you to forget your manners," Clara said.

Lady Swift, one of the King's inner circle, glared at Clara for a moment before smiling at Reinette as she said, "Marquise, is something wrong?"

"Not that I'm aware of. Why? What did you think was happening?" Reinette said refusing to tell the woman anything as she was a well-known troublemaker.

"Well, I saw the captain of the Musketeers come walking out of here in a very worried state, Marquise. He then went straight to the king and they both went into the king's quarters to talk. I assumed that meant something. Another one of your monster attacks, perhaps?" Lady Swift asked.

"No, it's nothing of the kind. The Captain had just heard some rumors of a possible war with Spain once again that he wished to tell to the King. I'm sure that the rumors are groundless of course. You know how rumors are. Most of the time they're completely untrue," Reinette said as she tried to get the woman to go away.

"Yes, of course. I quite agree with you on that, Marquise," Lady Swift said.

She then turned to leave but suddenly stopped as she said, "It's just that I heard the Captain whisper something to the king about monsters in the palace, and I just had this very strange thought."

"And what strange thought was that?" Reinette asked as something about Lady Swift's manner immediately started to set off alarm bells in her mind and made her reach into her pocket for her sonic pen.

"I thought that maybe the Captain was warning both you and the King about shape changing monsters in the palace. It's a silly idea I know," Lady Swift said without turning around again.

"Yes, it's quite silly I assure you. Don't worry about it, Lady Swift. Just go on about your day. If we find a Rutan here, I'll let you be the first one to know," Reinette said.

"I never said anything about a Rutan," Lady Swift said in a cold voice.

"I know but you certainly know what one is, don't you?" Reinette said.

"And apparently so do you!" Lady Swift shouted as she whirled around with a Rutan gun in her hand.

Before she could even pull the trigger on it though, Reinette immediately activated her sonic pen from inside of her dress pocket. She quickly used it to overload the alien gun and caused it to explode in Lady Swift's hand!

Lady Swift screamed in agony as she cradled a broken, battered hand. She briefly switched forms from human to Rutan before reassuming her human form once more with the hand now fully healed again. She probably would have attacked the others instantly if Reinette wasn't aiming her sonic pen at her.

Reinette of course had no idea how to use it to injure the Rutan or even if she could. The Rutan certainly didn't have to know that though.

She practically hissed in anger now as she said, "You won't stop us no matter how much you know, human."

"Others have told me that before but they were quickly proven to be wrong and so will you. I will find out what you're up to, and then I will save my home from you," Reinette promised.

Lady Swift laughed as she said, "You don't even know what it is you're up against do you? Even if you did, you couldn't stop it. Your primitive ape brain couldn't even begin to comprehend how to stop our weapon now even if you did find it."

"A weapon? Is that what this is all about? Yet another weapon to be used in your terrible war?" Reinette asked in disgust.

"The last time that I met them it was about a lot more than that, Reinette. They were trying to create something to finally end the war once and for all," Amy said.

Lady Swift nodded as she said, "Yes, and now we've finally done exactly that. We have created the ultimate weapon to use against the Sontarans. Soon we will use it to finally destroy the hated clones and smash their army into pieces once and for all."

"That's why they came here then. They were looking for it," Amy realized.

"They were looking for something but they didn't know exactly what it was. Thankfully your men did a very thorough job of keeping them from finding it by getting rid of all of them for us. Thank you so much for that. They were the only ones on this planet that could have prevented it from going off on time. Now there will be no one to save you. I want you to know that before you kill me, Madame de Pompadour. You won't be able to stop it now. Soon this entire planet will be completely destroyed when the weapon goes off, and the human race will join Sontar in oblivion. No one in the universe will miss you I assure you," Lady Swift said with an evil laugh.

"Where is this weapon?" Reinette said in a horrified voice.

"There's no use in asking because I'm not about to tell you. Go ahead and do whatever you want to me. I'll never tell. Soon the war will finally be over with at last. That's easily worth my life to have finally brought about a complete and total victory for my people at long last after tens of thousands of years of constant endless warfare," Lady Swift said with a huge smile on her face.

"You'll also be completely destroying the entire human race in the process. Are you really willing to do that?" Reinette said in disbelief.

"In a heartbeat. What do I care about your pathetic race of worthless backwards apes?" Lady Swift said with a smirk.

"Where is the weapon? Tell me or I'll use this on you. I can use it in many creative ways that will make you wish that you were dead," Reinette threatened.

Lady Swift shook her head as she said, "No, I don't think you will. Your eyes are too kind. You won't kill unnecessarily. Don't try to bluff a true warrior, Marquise. It won't work."

Suddenly to Reinette's complete and utter surprise, Clara grabbed the pen from her hand and used it to create a massive sonic assault that immediately had Lady Swift grabbing her ears in agony. Clara then switched off the attack and stood there with a fierce look in her eyes as she stared down the shaking Rutan with an angry stare on her face.

"You're right. She's far too kind to needlessly hurt you, monster, but I will. I'll do anything to protect her. Understood? Do I make myself clear?" Clara asked in a voice filled with darkness.

"Clara?" Reinette asked in disbelief.

She had never seen this side of her before in her life. It frightened even her to see her normally sweet and kind friend like this. It was almost as if she were an entirely different person somehow in the blink of an eye.

"You don't frighten me. Go ahead. Do what you will to me. I'll never tell you where the weapon is no matter how much you hurt me," Lady Swift said.

"Would you care to make a wager on that?" Clara asked as she moved closer to the Rutan with the sonic pen.

"Clara, what are you doing?" Reinette asked in shock.

"Losing her mind apparently," Amy said.

"Go ahead. Do your worst," Lady Swift said with a smirk.

As Clara moved to a spot where she was just beyond the Rutan's reach, she once again pointed the pen at her and said, "Now let's pick up where we left off, hmm?"

"I thought you'd never ask," Lady Swift said as she attacked Clara with a massive burst of electricity from her hands.

Clara screamed as the Rutan continuously electrocuted her making her drop the pen to the floor instantly. She would have continued to attack Clara until she was dead if she hadn't had a bucket of water dumped on her head by Gabrielle who had been cleaning the floor earlier.

The Rutan instantly died without a single word as the combination of electricity and water immediately proved to be a deadly one for her. She fell to the floor with a massive thud as she returned to her original form that looked like a galactic jellyfish.

Clara immediately fell over and Amy caught her before she could hit her head on the floor. She smiled weakly at Gabrielle as she said, "Thank you. I honestly thought that it was the end there for a moment."

"What were you doing?" Reinette said in anger.

"What do you think, Jeanne? I was trying to find out where the weapon was so that I could save our world. I learned how to use the pen from the original Clara's memories, that kind of information swap works both ways apparently, and decided why not use it? It would have worked too if I had just stayed away from her. Now I've lost our only way of finding out where the weapon is," Clara said in a disgusted voice.

"I think what she was really asking you was why were you going all psycho on her a minute ago, Shorty. You didn't exactly act like you were playing with a full deck for a minute there," Amy said.

"I have no idea what you just said," Clara said with a frown.

"You acted like you had lost your mind, Clara. What happened?" Reinette translated.

"She was threatening to destroy our world, Jeanne. I wasn't about to let that happen without at least trying to stop her," Clara said.

"Yeah, well you did a really great job of it didn't you? Now we have no clue what is going on and no way of finding out," Amy said.

"Just . . . shut up, Red. Just shut up," Clara said in an upset voice.

"I'm sorry," Amy said apologetically.

"I know. Don't worry about it," Clara said with tears in her eyes.

"Marquise, I think I may know of something that might just help you," Gabrielle said.

"Jeanne, Gabrielle. Please call me Jeanne. You practically helped raise me so surely you have the right to call me that if anyone does," Reinette said in irritation.

"Who cares? Just tell us what you know," Amy said impatiently.

Gabrielle laughed liking Amy already as she said, "Well, no one notices me. I'm only a part of the staff after all."

"I notice you," Reinette said.

"Yes, but you're definitely not like the others here. They never pay me any attention. In fact, they often forget that I'm here entirely just like Lady Swift did a moment ago. She was watching the three of you but didn't even notice me directly behind her. This isn't the only time that she didn't notice me though. She also didn't notice me all of the times that I saw her talking with Madame de Sparrow," Gabrielle said with a sly smile.

"The wife of one of the King's oldest friends has been replaced by a Rutan?" Clara said in amazement.

"I thought that she had been acting extremely odd lately," Reinette said.

"How could you tell? She always acted odd to me. The Rutan couldn't have picked a better person to replace because no one would notice if she acted any stranger," Clara said.

"I really could care less who she is. I don't know about the two of you, but I don't want the planet to get blown up two hundred years before I'm even born. Please tell me that you overheard something useful that we can use to save it, Gaby," Amy said hopefully.

Gabrielle looked at her in amusement as she said, "Alright, I can confirm that for you. I did learn something useful in their conversations together that only makes sense now that I know the truth about the two of them. I heard them talking once about the 'hiding place'. Madame de Sparrow said that it was a place where no one would ever be able to find her. I thought that it was a very strange thing to say at the time. Now I can't help but wonder if it was a clue to where this weapon of hers might be."

"Where is it though? Did she say anything that might help us to find it?" Reinette asked.

"She said that it was somewhere on the inside of Notre Dame," Gabrielle said.

"Notre Dame Cathedral?" Amy said in disbelief.

"Of course. No one would ever think to find a weapon in that grand old church. We have to go there as fast as possible. Let's just hope that we're not already too late," Reinette said.

The three of them immediately ran out of the room together as fast as they could as Gabrielle silently wished them all well. She had faith that if anyone could save them all that Reinette could.

It was at that very moment that Josette finally left the bedroom as she asked Gabrielle, "I just can't get a wink of sleep around here what with all of the aliens attacking and all. It's always so busy in this place. It's like a madhouse. Is there ever a day when the Marquise isn't involved in one life or death crisis after another?"

"Not since the day that I met her. Come on. Let's get you something to eat," Gabrielle said with an amused grin.

At that very moment even as Reinette, Clara, and Amy raced to Notre Dame in a carriage, Madame de Sparrow looked at the bio-weapon that the Rutan were calling the Wrecker as it slowly made its way through the very walls of the old cathedral in the form of vines that wrapped around it. Soon it would become a part of the very structure of the building itself and then sink its roots all the way into the molten core of the planet.

Once it was complete, it would tap into the geomagnetic power of that core and turn the energy of this entire world into a weapon for the Rutan Host.

In less than an hour now, the weapon would finally be ready, and then the power of this world would be used to completely annihilate the planet Sontar destroying both worlds at once in the process. The Sontarans would never think of the final strike in the war as coming from a backwater world like the Earth. They would never suspect anything it was far, far too late.

"Soon now. Very soon I will be the one who will go down in history as having finally ended the Great War forever," Madame de Sparrow said with a triumphant smile.

Meanwhile back at Versailles in the Hall of Mirrors, a small crack in time and space opened that would have gone unnoticed by anyone else but Amy because it was on the wall. Only Amy Pond would have even thought of a crack on a wall as having any significance to it after all. Amy Pond finally had her way to get back to Rory at last.

If only she had been there to use it.

**Next: Reinette, Clara, and Amy race to stop Madame de Sparrow from destroying two worlds at once. Will they make it in time or will all of human history be wiped out forever? Even if they win, will Amy still lose? Can she possibly make it back to Versailles in time to see the rift before it closes once again?**


	5. Amy's Last Chance

CHAPTER 5

I do not own Doctor Who and I am making no profit off of this.

Thank you for your favorites, follows, and reviews!

AMY'S LAST CHANCE

"Can't this stupid thing go any faster? I've seen plenty of horses on television go a lot faster than this so why is this carriage so bloody slow?" Amy said in an irritated voice.

"Television?" Clara asked in confusion.

"It's too hard to explain right now, Clara. I'll explain it later if there is a later," Reinette said with an amused grin on her face.

Amy looked at her in surprise as she said, "So you know about television too? Just how much did you learn about the future from the Doctor?"

"Let's just say that I know far more than Monsieur Nostradamus and leave it at that," Reinette said.

"I'd so love to let you see my world," Amy said with a smile.

Then she suddenly became sad as she realized, "I'll never see my world again. I'll be lucky if I ever see Rory again."

"I'll help you get back to him, Amy. I promise," Reinette said.

Amy gave her a weak smile as she said, "We've got to save your time first though or there won't be any Rory to go back to. I suppose I should be more focused on that instead of wallowing in self-pity right now, huh?"

"It's alright, Amelia. I understand. It's always going to be the end of the world. Doomsday seems to come fairly frequently despite how special an occasion that it's supposed to be. I've saved the world so many times now that it's become almost a regular occurrence. This will be your last chance to ever get to be with Rory again though," Reinette said in a sympathetic voice.

"I still don't understand why the other Clara just couldn't have taken me there herself instead of creating a crack to send me back. I've had more than enough of strange cracks in my life believe me," Amy said in an upset voice.

"Clara's very busy right now. She's trying to stop the end of the universe herself in her own time," Clara explained.

"You know what she's doing right now?" Amy asked.

"Yes, I can sense it when I really try to. There's a link between us that lets us both see what the other is seeing especially when they're emotional. Clara's going through a very hard time right now. Jenny . . . died," Clara said.

Reinette looked horrified as Amy asked, "Jenny?"

"She's the Doctor and Clara's daughter," Reinette explained.

Amy began to immediately become extremely upset as she said in a determined tone, "And here I was whining about my life when she's just lost her child! I know exactly what she's going through right now, and I feel so sorry for her. At least I have a chance to see Rory again and I will. I won't let anything keep me from him now. You're absolutely right, Jeanne. There's always going to be another apocalypse, but there won't ever be another Rory."

Despite the horrible news that she had just received, Reinette couldn't help but smile slightly as Amy called her Jeanne. Clara gave her a knowing look which showed her that she had noticed it as well.

A moment later the carriage finally came to a stop right outside Notre Dame, and the three women rushed out of it as quickly as they could. The people inside the old church looked up at them in surprise as they ran through the aisles looking for Madame de Sparrow. They couldn't find her anywhere though which immediately caused Reinette to start wondering if maybe they had just completely wasted their time by coming to the wrong place after all.

"Marquise, could I help you with something?" One of the Musketeers who had been attending services inside of the church asked as he saw the distressed look on her face.

"Yes, I'm trying to find Madame de Sparrow. I was told that she would be here, but I can't find her. Have you seen her?" Reinette asked as she held onto the hope that maybe she hadn't just completely lost her last lead in finding her.

The Musketeer looked at her in confusion as he said, "I actually saw her a few moments ago. I know that she should still be here somewhere because I never saw her leave."

"Begging your pardon, Marquise, but I couldn't help but overhear you. It's possible that she could have gone into the hidden room," A monk said.

"Hidden room? What is this, an old black and white movie?" Amy said in disbelief.

"Movie?" Clara asked as the Musketeer looked at Amy as though she were mad.

"Later," Reinette said as she gestured impatiently for the monk to tell her more.

"It's this way, Marquise. It's a hidden area used for storage of valuable items that should only be known to a select few in the church, but it's possible that she learned of it too somehow. I'll lead you there so that you can check it," The monk said.

"Thank you so much," Reinette said gratefully as she began to follow the kindly looking monk even as she wondered why he looked so familiar to her.

That was a question for a later time though. Right now she was much more concerned with preventing the end of two worlds, her own and Amy's, as she followed the monk to a slightly discolored section of wall that was hidden out of sight of the rest of the church. She could see now that this part of the wall looked different from the rest of it, but she would have never noticed it if it hadn't been pointed out to her.

"This is the entrance to the hidden room. I must swear all of you to secrecy as to its location as we store many valuable items here to keep them from being stolen," The monk said.

"Of course. The church's secrets are its own business. It's none of mine. I could care less about them, and I'm sure that the others with me feel exactly the same way," Reinette said even as the others nodded.

The monk smiled in approval at this as he pushed a hidden button on one of the torches next to the discolored section of the wall, and it immediately slid open. As soon as it did, it revealed an extremely surprised looking Madame de Sparrow behind it who had been staring at a large vine line growth that was rapidly growing all over the room.

"So it's true. What are you doing in here, Madame? Are you attempting to loot the church's treasury?" The Musketeer asked as he pulled his sword.

"She's attempting to do much worse than that I'm afraid," Reinette said as she pulled out her sonic pen and began to scan the vines with it.

"Do you actually understand what it's telling you?" Amy asked curiously.

"I know just enough from the Doctor's memories to be able to piece together a rudimentary knowledge of what this device is trying to tell me, yes. It's saying that these vines are the very Rutan weapon that we've been looking for," Reinette said.

Madame de Sparrow smiled as she said, "Very good, Marquise. You've stumbled onto our little plot despite our best efforts at keeping at hidden. I must congratulate on your intelligence, my dear. You are definitely far above the rest of the pathetic rabble of this world. You might have made an excellent Rutan."

"I really doubt it, Madame or whoever you are. I've never been interested in perpetuating wars only in stopping them before they can occur," Reinette said.

"Then we would be kindred spirits after all despite what you seem to think about me, Marquise. I too no longer want to keep this insane war going. I want to stop it right now once and for all, and I'm only moments away from finally doing so. The Wrecker is almost ready to activate, and once it does my people will score the final victory against the Sontarans ending the war once and for all. Then they will finally know peace at last. I wonder what that will be like? I only regret not being there to see it myself. I've only ever known war just like the rest of my kind. None of us even has the slightest idea of what peace is like. I'd like to bring that gift back to my people," Madame de Sparrow said in a passionate voice.

"Yes, at the expense of completely wiping out my people and most of the Sontarans. That's much too high a price," Reinette said.

"Maybe so and maybe I am sorry that I'm going to have to wipe out this planet after having been among its people for so long and learning so much about them, but sometimes sacrifices must be made in order to achieve a lasting victory, Marquise," Madame de Sparrow said.

"No, not this time they won't. You're stealing my planet's entire future away from it, and I won't allow that happen. Tell us how to stop this. Now," Reinette ordered in a hard voice.

Madame de Sparrow laughed as she said, "You can't stop it, Marquise. It's far too late now. You've only succeeded in coming just in time to be here to watch the weapon activate and nothing more."

"You're a liar! You have to know how to deactivate it since you're the one who set it off, and you will tell us the truth," Clara said in a furious voice.

"You will do as the Baroness says or I will cut out whatever passes for your heart," The Musketeer threatened.

"Do you really think that I care about dying? I'm going to die anyway in a couple of moments, and so are the rest of you. I resigned myself to that a long time ago. Nothing you can do can convince me to stop now," Madame de Sparrow said.

"What if I told you that this won't stop the war?" Reinette said surprising everyone.

"What? What are you talking about? Of course it will stop the war. It will wipe out most of the Sontarans along with their homeworld and their breeding grounds in one massive strike. There will be no new Sontarans from that moment forward, and the ones who will be left will be too small of a number to be a real threat anymore," Madame de Sparrow protested.

"You're so wrong though, Madame. The Sontarans have another breeding planet besides Sontar in this era," Reinette said.

"What? No, that's a lie! My people would know if that were true," Madame de Sparrow said in a shocked voice.

"Would you? According to the Doctor's memories, the Rutans don't discover the second breeding planet until long after this time. What you're doing here won't end the war at all, Madame. You'll only be dying for nothing not to mention committing the mass genocide of my people. All in a useless gesture that will do no one any good whatsoever," Reinette said.

"You're lying. You have to be lying," Madame de Sparrow said in an uncertain voice.

"Am I? Look into my eyes and tell me if I'm lying or not," Reinette said.

The Rutan searched Reinette's eyes carefully but couldn't find any clues there that would tell her whether she was lying or not. She might actually be telling the truth, and if she was she didn't want to waste her life in a useless attack that would destroy the Wrecker for no tactical advantage whatsoever. That weapon was the last hope of the Rutans to end the war so it had to be used wisely.

Madame de Sparrow hesitated for a moment and then finally said, "You're right, Marquise. It would be a waste."

She pulled a small device out of one of her pockets and pushed a button on it that immediately deactivated the Wrecker. The vines all over the area quickly started to disintegrate as the Rutan removed a carefully hidden central processing unit that had been stuck onto one of the walls in the hidden room.

"So that's it then? It's over?" Amy said sounding almost disappointed.

"Why? Did you want to die, Giant Girl?" Clara said in disbelief.

"No, it's just that it's a little too easy isn't it? Usually the Doctor would only win after a long hard-fought victory. It would never be this easy," Amy said.

"I can't believe you're complaining about this," Clara said.

"She's right though. It's not going to be that easy," Madame de Sparrow said as she unexpectedly pulled a gun out of one of her pockets and aimed it at them.

"I knew it," Amy said.

"You actually sound happy about it. You're absolutely mad. You do know that right?" Clara asked with a frown.

"I know a couple of psychiatrists who would probably agree with you on that," Amy said with a grin.

"Don't look so happy, human. Your race may have been spared today, but you're all still going to die regardless of that because you know far too much. Word of the Wrecker must never reach the ears of the Sontarans. It must continue to remain the Rutans' secret until it is used to finally destroy them once and for all," Madame de Sparrow said.

"You're wrong. No one is going to die today except for possibly you," Reinette said as she aimed her sonic pen at her.

"Do you really think that that puny little sonic device will be able to hurt one of my species, human? I'm the one with the only real weapon here, and that assures that I am the one who will not die here today," Madame de Sparrow said.

"Wrong, monster!" The Musketeer shouted as he suddenly stabbed her in the chest with his sword.

Madame de Sparrow screamed even as she shot the Musketeer with her gun instantly disintegrating him without a trace. She continued to cry out in pain as she started to fire on the others now as well. They all ran for their lives as the injured Rutan started firing wildly all over the room in a desperate attempt to drive them all away from her.

Luckily Reinette quickly figured out a way to make the door leading out of the hidden room activate again before any of them were hit by the Rutan's blasts, and the three women quickly ran out of the room to safety. This left the monk, who hadn't run off with the others, all alone with the Rutan as she cornered him with a crazed look in her eyes while the door to the hidden room slid back into place trapping him there with her.

"I'll find them too eventually, but you're going to die first. If it hadn't been for you telling her where I was, none of this would have happened in the first place," The Rutan said in a pain-filled voice.

The monk smiled as he said, "Yes, I know. Didn't you ever stop to wonder why that was exactly?"

The Rutan looked at him in confusion now as she said, "What?"

"You call these apes primitive, Rutan, but you're not much better. She lied to you. There is no second breeding planet. She managed to completely outwit you, save her entire world, and get away to live to tell about it. That's a far better track record then you're going to have I'm afraid," The monk said as he pulled a staser out of his robes.

"Who are you? That's Time Lord technology. How dare your people interfere with my mission!" The Rutan hissed.

"My name is the Monk and my people have nothing to do with it. In fact at the moment they're not doing much of anything. I'm doing this all on my own because I won't have you interfering with the development of this world. Your influence could undo everything that I plan on doing to it myself, and I won't have you contaminating my experiment," The Monk said.

"Experiment? What are you rambling about?" The Rutan said.

"I'm afraid that you're never going to know the answer to that question," The Monk said as he shot the Rutan with the staser making her instantly crumple to the ground.

Then the Monk took the Wrecker away from the unmoving Rutan as he said, "Thank you so much. You won't need this anymore anyway, and it could come in very handy one day."

He laughed as he quietly exited the room in order to blend back in with the other monks. He would be long gone before any of them noticed the Rutan's body.

Or so he thought.

"I'm so glad that you made it out of there alive. Now I only have to worry about keeping her from getting back out again," Reinette said.

The Monk had to bite his tongue to keep from cursing out loud as he saw that Reinette, Clara, and Amy were all still there. They hadn't all fled in terror as he had hoped after all.

"There's no need, Marquise. The monster is dead. The Musketeer's wound finally killed her," The Monk lied.

Reinette actually looked sad at that as she said, "A pity. I would have liked to have tried to reason with her."

"She was trying to wipe out all of humanity," Clara said.

"She was also trying to end a war even if she was doing it in a completely misguided way. Maybe I could have used that as a starting point to talk to her," Reinette said.

"You really are like the Doctor," Amy said with a grin.

"Yes, sometimes she's too much like him for her own good," Clara added.

Reinette smiled as she said, "Then it's a good thing that like him I have my very own Clara to protect me isn't it?"

"You presume way too much, Jeanne. Do you really think that I'll keep watching out for you while you recklessly endanger yourself and always be there whenever you call on me for the rest of my life?" Clara asked.

Reinette looked at her with a shamed look on her face just before Clara added, "The answer is yes. I will always be there for you. Always."

"I totally nailed it. Sisters," Amy said happily as a tearful Reinette and Clara embraced.

The Monk smirked at this sappy display of sentimentality even as he used it as an opportunity to finally slip away unnoticed as he had started to do before. He couldn't afford to be found out now. He had plans for this world and he wasn't about to let even the celebrated Madame de Pompadour stand in his way now.

The women didn't even care that the monk was gone when they finally noticed him missing. They quietly put it off to his having rejoined the others in other to perform his daily duties while Reinette made a mental note to find him and reward him somehow for his help later.

Reinette then quickly reentered the hidden room only to find that the Rutan was missing!

"Where could she have gone? We never saw her leave," Clara asked in alarm.

"She must have a ship nearby that she transmatted to," Reinette reasoned.

"Transwhat?" Clara asked.

Reinette rolled her eyes as Clara said with a sigh, "I know, I know. You'll explain it to me later. I swear that even I have a hard time understanding you at times, and I grew up with you."

"Jeanne, now that we've lost track of the Rutan anyway can we please head back to the palace now? The crack might already be there while we're talking and I can't miss it," Amy said in an anxious voice.

Reinette smiled at her continued use of her first name now as she said, "I was just about to suggest that. Come on. Let's hurry back."

As the three women left, a sack full of gold in the corner of the room suddenly changed form and became Madame de Sparrow once more. The Rutan wasn't dead after all just badly wounded because the Monk in his ignorance of their biology hadn't used a powerful enough setting on the staser to kill a Rutan. She had merely played dead until the Monk left and then had quickly hidden herself the best that she could as she heard Reinette returning.

"This isn't over. I will regain my weapon and then I will kill both the Time Lord and you, Marquise," Madame de Sparrow said as she silently left the hidden room.

She knew that she couldn't afford to be spotted in her old form so in order to truly hide while she recovered from her wounds she changed herself once more. This time she was a young blonde woman in her early twenties in simple clothing who would be unnoticed as she left the church.

She decided that she would keep this form and use it while she plotted against her enemies later. Reinette would never suspect one of her beloved peasants of planning to destroy her after all. She decided that her new name would now be Sally.

Reinette, Clara, and Amy meanwhile had raced back to Versailles as fast as they could, and Amy was now busily searching for the crack everywhere. She finally yelled in triumph as she found it, looking exactly like the one from her childhood, on a wall in the Hall of Mirrors.

"This is it! I'm finally going to be with Rory at last! Thank you so much, Jeanne, for all of your help. I really appreciate it," Amy said as she hugged Reinette.

"What about me, Red? Don't I get any thanks?" Clara asked.

"Of course you do, Shorty. Thank you for being a real pain in the . . ." Amy started to say before Reinette quickly put her hand over her mouth.

"It wouldn't do to have you get yourself executed for saying something rude to one of the royal family, Amy, now that you're finally going to get to leave. Just say good bye and go while you still can," Reinette advised.

Amy smiled and said, "Sorry, Clara. I guess you were alright. Well, I suppose I'll be saying good bye to both of you now. Wish me luck."

She then turned to walk toward the crack as she hesitantly reached out towards it. She wasn't quite sure how it worked.

"What do I do?" Amy asked in an uncertain voice.

"Just touch it," Clara said with a smile.

"Thanks," Amy said as she proceeded to do exactly that.

There was a large flash of light and then Amy let out a frustrated sigh as she realized that she was still in the exact same place. Reinette and Clara were now looking at her in absolute surprise. She hadn't moved an inch.

Then to her horror she realized that the crack was gone now!

"What? That can't be it! It didn't work!" Amy protested.

"I think it did, Amelia. Look," Reinette said as she pointed to a Cardinal in red robes who was suddenly heading towards them with an angry look on his face along with an entire company of soldiers.

"Who is that? He's not the Cardinal that I know," Clara said.

"No, he's not which shows that the crack definitely worked, but not how it was intended to have worked. That's Cardinal Richelieu from long ago," Reinette said.

"Richelieu? As in the bad guy from The Three Musketeers?" Amy asked in disbelief.

"The what? Why am I so lost ever since Giant Girl showed up?" Clara asked even as Reinette, who knew exactly what she was talking about from the Doctor's memories, nodded.

"Yes, but this is no character from a book, Amelia. This is the real thing. Apparently the crack has moved the three of us a hundred years back into the past instead of just moving you forward into the future," Reinette said.

"How? What happened to the stupid thing?" Amy asked.

"I don't know and I don't think that we're going to have any time to find out either," Reinette said.

"Oh, you'll have plenty of time to think things over in prison, whoever you three are. You'd better think up a good explanation for trespassing here too or you'll all have to answer to me. Arrest them," Cardinal Richelieu ordered his men.

"Great. Just wonderful. Now I'm in even worse shape than I was before," Amy said.

"You know I'm starting to believe that you're bad luck, Red," Clara said as the soldiers surrounded them with swords drawn.

"Stuff it, Shorty!" Amy said with a frown.

Meanwhile back in Reinette's time, the Monk smiled in triumph as he saw the three women disappear into the rift and watched it close behind them. He had used his TARDIS to successfully redirect the rift to the past and strand Reinette there for good in order to get her out of his way. Now there would be no one to stop him as he carried out his own plans for the future of this world.

Even as he thought this though, he had no idea that the newly renamed Sally was watching him from the shadows. Watching and planning.

**Next: How in the world will Reinette, Clara, and Amy escape from Richelieu's prison? Maybe they'll get a little help from the Man in the Iron Mask. Who could he possibly be? Meanwhile back in Reinette's time, Sally moves against the Monk as she tries to find out what he's up to in order to stop him. What unlikely allies will she attempt to recruit to help her in this goal and how will she convince them to work with her? I think you'll love the answer. **


End file.
